Onstage: The Barber of Seville

Rossini’s comic opera is truly a star of stage, screen and television, from Nike ads to end credit music for the Beatles’ Help! and classic Warner Brothers and Woody Woodpecker cartoons. The original story is just as loony as Bugs Bunny’s take. The lovers Rosina and Count Almaviva enlist the wily barber Figaro to outwit Rosina’s guardian Dr. Bartolo, who’s determined to marry her for her fortune.

Add to the mix a sleazy music teacher, a bumbling maid, lame disguises and the closest shave this side of Sweeney Todd. CCM’s production marks the mainstage debut of director Karen Coe Miller and conductor Annunziata Tomarow. “Figaro is a great improviser,” Miller says. “Dr. Bartolo is all about control and Figaro is creative chaos. He enlists the resources at hand to make money, help a friend, amuse himself or, best of all, do all three at once!” The action unfolds on the first day of Carnival, with Figaro leading the parade. And no one dies. Thursday-Sunday at the Patricia Corbett Theater. $15-$28.